1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the remote harvesting of crayfish or other crustaceans from shallow ponds, marshes or water. More particularly, it pertains to a harvester that is selectively counterbalanced whenever the retrieval of the trapped crayfish is desired. Such a unit may be operated individually or it may be combined with other similar units for larger harvests.
2. General Background
Crayfish, or as more commonly known--crawfish, is a culinary delicacy that is enjoyed by vast numbers of people. The number consumed per person can vary from a single dozen for small children to dozens for large adults. Thus, to satisfy this demand during the short crayfish season, a need arises to trap or capture as many crayfish as possible as easily and as effortlessly as possible.
Perhaps one of the simplest ways of harvesting caryfish is to tie a string to a piece of bait and drag this bait along the bottom of the pond or marsh being fished. While this method is the least expensive known, it is also extremely labor intensive in view of the relatively small number of crayfish caught. A more common practice is to secure bait to the middle of a waire mesh trap, deposit this trap in the marsh or pond, and then regularly remove the trap and collect its contents. Assuming that many such traps are set, it is conceivable to move from one trap to the next while continuously havesting crayfish.
While more crayfish can be captured this way than the former string method, it is still labor intensive and time consuming. Additionally, these traps must be re-baited frequently because the crayfish will consume the enticing morsel. In simpler traps (those without one-way gates), when the bait is consumed before the crayfish have been harvested, no crayfish will be caught because they will have left for better opportunities elsewhere.
While these methods are suitable in the wild, they are not often practiced with respect to the large scale or commercial harvest of crayfish. In these cases, devices such as those set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,759 to Edling et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,369 to Bodker, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,363 to Smith might be utilized. In each such case, however, a considerable amount of equipment is involved which hinders their usefulness. Additionally, the manpower required to operate the disclosed machinery and harvest the crayfish remains substantial.
What is needed is a simple, yet efficient means for harvesting large numbers of crayfish as quickly as possible with low material and operating costs. A desirable feature would be the ability to harvest such crayfish remotely without the need to actually visit each harvesting site. It is also preferable to harvest crayfish without the need to re-bait the traps as often as is required when using the standard mesh traps.
Another desirable feature is to arrange for the crayfish to be automatically collected within a storage tank without the need to manually collect the crayfish from the various trap locations. It is precisely these features which are found in the present invention. Other features of this invention include an easily operated harvester with essentially no moving parts that can be damaged by exposure to the saline marine environment or by exposure to mud, grit and sand. These and other features of this invention will become obvious upon further investigation.